Soho Mint - A World First!
For the Issuing of Dollars - 16th May 1804
The Bank of England Dollars were definitely not regal coins or legal tender. They were a token issue by the Bank of England, and the notice regarding their appearance was issued by Robert Bell, Secretary of the Bank, and not by the King. This notice dated 16th May 1804, was ‘Gazetted’ in issue number 15,702, and it appeared only on page nine; the Proclamations of the regal coins, on the other hand, were front page material!
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For the Revaluation of Dollars - 18th March 1811
The principal motivation behind the issue of the Bank of England Dollar tokens, of all types, was the inability of the Royal Mint to pay the market price for silver to create regal silver coins. Eventually, these same market forces began to affect the Dollar tokens, when the silver price rose to the point when the metal value exceeded the face value of five shillings. On 18th March 1811, the Bank, in consultation with Government, published a notice in the London Gazette informing the public that the token value had been raised to five shillings and six pence.
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For Deferring the Calling-In of Dollars - 16th January 1817
The fall in the price of silver following the end of the Napoleonic Wars meant that the use of genuine Spanish coins to forge the dollars became profitable, so, to limit their liability, the Bank, in consultation with the Government, issued a Notice on 26th September 1816 recalling the dollars by 1st November 1816. Various considerations made it necessary to extend the date, firstly to 1st February 1817, and then, in this Notice dated 16th January 1817, to 1st May 1817.
Click on the small image above left to see a larger (and readable!) version. The file is in .pdf format, so you will need Adobe Reader, or similar software.
For Finally Calling-In the Dollars - 20th March 1817
On 20th March 1817, a final Notice was issued, confirming to the public that the final date for the redemption of dollar tokens was to be 1st May 1817, and that no further extensions would be made.
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For the Punishment of Counterfeiting Dollars - 19th July 1804
The Bank of England Dollars were definitely not regal coins or legal tender and consequently did not enjoy the legal protection which covered regal issues. On 10th July 1804, an Act of Parliament was passed to extend the penalties for counterfeiting to those guilty of counterfeiting dollars. This was the first legal recognition of token currency.
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Before any coinage becomes legal tender in the United Kingdom, it must be authorised by a Royal Proclamation, issued by the King or Queen of the time. This is as true today as it was in the eighteenth century when King George III issued proclamations regarding the issue of Matthew Boulton’s ‘regal’ copper coinages. Official proclamations and notices are published in the London Gazette (together with the other national journals of record, the Edinburgh Gazette, and the Belfast Gazette, though this would have been the Dublin Gazette at this period.
